was a

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

from Mt. Hiei, retainer of

Oda Nobunaga was a Japanese ''daimyō'' and one of the leading figures of the Sengoku period, Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods. He was the and regarded as the first "Great Unifier" of Japan. He is sometimes referred as the "Demon Daimyō" and "Demo ...

and later one of

Toyotomi Hideyoshi , otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period, Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods and regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: ...

's '' Go-Bugyō'', along with

Ishida Mitsunari was a Japanese samurai and military commander of the late Sengoku period of Japan. He is probably best remembered as the commander of the Western army in the Battle of Sekigahara following the Azuchi–Momoyama period of the 16th century. He ...

, Asano Nagamasa, Mashita Nagamori and Natsuka Masaie. He entered the service of

sometime before 1570.

Biography

Service under Nobunaga

In his youth, Gen’i entered the priesthood in Mino and either became a Zen priest or monk on Mount Hiei. Alternatively, he may have been the abbot at the

Komatsu Temple Komatsu may refer to: * Komatsu (surname), a Japanese surname * Komatsu, Ishikawa, a city in the Ishikawa prefecture in Japan * Komatsu Airport, an airport * Komatsu Limited, a company mostly known for manufacturing industrial machinery * Komatsu L ...

Owari Province was a province of Japan in the area that today forms the western half of Aichi Prefecture, including the modern city of Nagoya. The province was created in 646. Owari bordered on Mikawa, Mino, and Ise Provinces. Owari and Mino provinces w ...

. Later, Gen’i was serve the Oda clan, and upon orders of

, He became a retainer of Nobunaga’s eldest son and designated heir, Oda Nobutada. In 1582, during the Honnoji Incident, Gen’i was located, together with Nobutada, at the Nijō palace in Kyōto. Upon orders of Nobutada, Gen’i fled with Nobutada’s infant son, Sanpōshi ( Oda Hidenobu), going from Gifu Castle in Mino to Kiyosu Castle in Owari.

Service under Hideyoshi

In 1582, Gen'i was appointed to be a deputy over

Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...

. After the death of Oda Nobunaga that same year, Gen'i went on to serve under

, at Kameyama Castle (Kyoto) in

Tanba Province was a province of Japan in the area of central Kyoto and east-central Hyōgo Prefectures. Tanba bordered on Harima, Ōmi, Settsu, Tajima. Tango, Wakasa, and Yamashiro provinces. Its abbreviated form name was . In terms of the Gokishichid ...

, Gen'i received a 50,000-''

koku The is a Chinese-based Japanese unit of volume. One koku is equivalent to 10 or approximately , or about of rice. It converts, in turn, to 100 shō and 1,000 gō. One ''gō'' is the traditional volume of a single serving of rice (before co ...

'' fief. In 1592, he was to lay the ground work for the Fushimi Castle. In 1595, Gen'i was named among the " Five Commissioners" by Hideyoshi. As a member of this council, Gen'i was "concerned with national affairs and subordinate only to Hideyoshi".Berry, Mary Elizabeth. ''Hideyoshi''. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1982, p. 139 In addition to managing a great deal of other affairs, Maeda also oversaw the reception of the likes of the

Emperor The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...

and representatives of the Jesuits to Hideyoshi's Jurakudai palace.

References

*Sansom, George (1961). ''A History of Japan: 1334–1615''. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press.

External links

Biographies of Sengoku-era leaders, including Maeda Gen-i
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maeda, Gen'i samurai 1539 births 1602 deaths Japanese Buddhist clergy Shingon Buddhist monks Buddhist clergy of Muromachi-period Japan Clergy of the Azuchi–Momoyama period Japanese politicians Daimyo Toyotomi retainers People from Gifu Prefecture